Selfies to blame for a plane crash

Passengers taking selfies in flight might just have been one of the reasons a plane crashed.

Those are the results of an investigation into a 2014 light plane crash conducted by The USA's National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

Two people died in a crash last May, when a Cessna 150 airplane crashed in Colorado after “the pilot experienced spatial disorientation and lost control of the airplane” causing “aerodynamic stall and subsequent spin into terrain.”

One reason for the disorientation was the fact that the flight happened during the night, but the NTSB’s investigators also found a GoPro camera at the scene, and retrieved the memory card.

Even though the files don’t show the moment of the crash, they did show photos from the day of the crash, as well as days before, where “the pilot and various passengers were taking self-photographs with their cell phones and, during the night flight, using the camera’s flash function during the takeoff roll, initial climb, and flight in the traffic pattern.”

“It is likely that cell phone use during the accident flight distracted the pilot and contributed to the development of spatial disorientation and subsequent loss of control,” suggests the investigation of the crash.

The NTSB's concluding statement on the incident is as follows:

“The pilot’s loss of control and subsequent aerodynamic stall due to spatial disorientation in night instrument meteorological conditions. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s distraction due to his cell phone use while maneuvering at low-altitude.”